The sudden rainfall had people running for cover in Birmingham

Gloucestershire Fire Brigade had to deal with severe storms which affected the county and causing flooding.

The county's police had to rescue one woman from her car in Cheltenham where rain water had reached her waist.

The Met Office says the storms started near Swindon before going north through Gloucestershire and towards Birmingham.

Gloucestershire's deputy chief fire officer, Terry Standing, said at the peak of the storms: "We've got something in the region of 60 or 70 calls stacked up at the moment.

"I would seriously ask members of the community that unless it is a matter of saving lives that you should not call us at this stage."

Flood alert

Gloucestershire Police attended 15 calls related to flash-flooding. Nobody is thought to have been injured.

Ch Insp David Peake said: "Police attended a call to a lady trapped in a car with water up to her waist.

"She was rescued from the car but police officers attending ended up waist-deep in sewage pouring into the road."

Rivers stretching from the Black Country to the Cotswolds were put on flood alert by the Environment Agency.

The warning is the first of a three-stage system the agency uses.

A spokesman said: "We don't want to alarm people but we don't want them to be complacent. Be prepared to act and act quickly."

Met Office forecaster Richard Angwin said: "These storms are as bad as any we have seen in the past few years.

"But thunderstorms are not unheard of during this time of the year."